Top 10 Greatest Industrial Accidents in World History
The world has seen a large number of industrial accidents happening
across every corner of the earth. Some of them have been extremely
disrupting, damaging the social and economic conditions of many
countries. These industrial accidents not only cause harm to the lives
of people, but also cause a huge amount of destruction to property, land
and the environment. The environment gets destroyed for sure at large,
but even worse cases have shown that the industrial accidents which have
taken place in some countries still continue to have their after
effects on generations of people even till date. Due to the devastating
impacts of such accidents, people in some parts of
these victimized countries are still born crippled and with some major
or minor deformity. In this way, the industrial accidents have proven to
be a major downfall socially as well as mentally for people and there
are people still on a large scale who have been trying to get over the
impacts of these disasters till date. Here is a list of some of the
worst and greatest industrial accidents which have taken place across
the globe and have left a mark for themselves in the pages of world
history.
10. The Exxon Valdez (United States of America)
The Exxon Valdez was basically an Exxon Corporation tanker containing
crude oil inside it. The incident took place on March 24, 1989, in
Prince William Sound, an inlet in the Gulf of Alaska, ran aground on the
Bligh Reef during one of its voyages from Alaska to California. The
spill saw the dispersion of almost 11 million gallons of crude oil over
more than 100 miles of the Alaska shoreline. This crude oil spill
destructed huge amount of wildlife resources, salmon fishes, sharks and
whales. Capt. Joseph Hazelwood was mainly blamed for this oil spill
accident as he had apparently been drinking and it was due to his
carelessness that the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground and destroyed
natural resources at large. The Exxon Corporation ended up paying a huge
amount of more than 2 billion dollars for the clean-up of the spill.
9. The Triangle Fire (United States of America)
This incident took place in the United States of America on March 25,
1911. This accident luckily didn’t seem many lives being lost with the
number of death report to be 150, this accident is basically renowned
for the Triangle fire instigated the masses of the U.S to demand for
safer and healthier working condition for people in factories. One
unfortunate day saw fire setting people ablaze in the Triangle
shirtwaist factory. The workers found themselves trapped inside a close
room with the doors locked as the factory owners has concern with theft
and safety of the worker. But after fire consumed in the factory, there
was nothing one could do but see the workers fighting restlessly to save
their lives, but people were terrified at the sight of young girls and
boys leaping to death from the upper floors of the building.
8. Deepwater Horizon (Gulf of Mexico)
A massive explosion which took place on the April 20, 2010, had rocked
the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, and that’s when the biggest marine oil
spill began to take place. No one knew, and no one realized until in
the next few months till September, one notices at least thousands of
barrels of oil being leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, turning the whole
water body into dark brownish colour, indicating the presence of oil. By
the time the oil well was sealed and obstructed in September 2010,
almost 5 million barrels of oil had already destroyed the economy and
ecology of the Gulf area, spilling large amounts of oil and destroying
marine life.
7. Courrieres (Europe)
This place has been a witness to one of the worst mining disasters and
accidents which took place on March 10, 1906. The Courrieres mine which
is located near the Pas-de-Calais hills went through a massive
explosion, leading to the death of more than a 1000 men and injuring
several more others. Reports claimed that toxic gas and smoke was
already mixing in the air days before the explosion actually took place,
but the miners continued their work at the mine. When the explosion
finally took place, the mine owners couldn’t trace a lot of their men,
who were found dead after a couple of days of their search. There was an
unrest and huge criticism about this mining accident, where survivors
were seen coming out of the mine, badly injured and in worse shape, even
after 20 days of the explosion.
6. Fukushima Daiichi (Japan)
The Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan gave the world one of the worst and
biggest nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011. The complex’s backup power
generators were damaged by the tsunami waves, which was triggered by an
earthquake, leading to a widespread havoc and the release of substantial
and good amount of radioactive material. The waves disturbed the power
and backup system of the plant greatly, though the reactors were shut
down so that the cooling system of the plant could work. But the cooling
system failed due to the great waves of tsunami, leading to a high rise
and ejection of radioactive substances. More than tens of thousands of
residents were evacuated from the nearby areas and the workers spent
almost a month trying to make things fall in place and eliminating the
radioactive leakage from the areas.
5. Oppau Explosion (Germany)
The Oppau explosion which took place on the 21st September,
1921, in Oppau, Germany, saw a heavy loss of lives and property, and
major destruction and damage to the social and economic condition of
Germany. The BASF plant located in Oppau saw the explosion of their
storing tank, which contained huge amount of Ammonium Nitrate and
Ammonium Sulphate. The explosion led to the release of these chemicals,
destroying all building and resources in that particular area and also
in the areas nearby, leading to the death of all workers and a lot many
people around the plant. Reports say that the sound of the explosion
could be heard at a range of more than 300 kilometres away from the
plant.
4. Monongah (United States of America)
Another worst mining disaster took place in a coal mine in Monongah,
West Virginia. One of the worst accidents in the history of U.S., an
explosion took place in this coal mine on December 6, 1907, leading to
the blockage of ventilation systems. The main entrance of the coal mine
had collapsed due to the explosion, and the ventilation systems had got
damaged due to which the workers were suffocated to death. This happened
on one of the busiest working days at the coal mine, when poisonous
gases leaked out in the mine leading to the death of many young people,
the number rounding up to almost 400 people.
3. Three Mile Island (United States of America)
Another nuclear power accident took place in Pennsylvania, United
States, on March 28, 1979. A malfunction in the Three Mile Island’s Unit
2 reactor led to the release of many toxic and poisonous gases, mainly
containing huge amounts of the deadly hydrogen gas into the atmosphere.
This nuclear accident mainly took place due to some unexplained decision
regarding the function of the nuclear reactor, failure of equipment and
inefficiency in operational procedures. In this case, the reactor core
of the nuclear plant had got exposed, reacting with the superheated
steam surrounding the plant, leading to the formation of poisonous
gases. It not only led to some harmful effects to the environment
impacting the lives of people, but also had a drastic impact on the
American nuclear power industry.
2. Chernobyl Disaster (Europe)
The Chernobyl Disaster which took place in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Plant in Ukraine can undoubtedly be considered one of the worst
accidents in the history of mankind, which witness the death of more
than ten thousand people on the 26th of
April, 1986. A simple explosion led to some highly radioactive and
reactive gases into the atmosphere, leading to the death of many lives
and major damage to property and environment. Such is the impact of the
Chernobyl disaster that the effects of it are faced by people in that
country till date, as due to the release of the concentrated and highly
reactive radioactive substances, people are still born with deformities
and illnesses, leading to a really sad story of generations still facing
the impact of this dreaded disaster.
1. Bhopal Gas Tragedy (India)
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy which took place on December 3, 1984 saw the
highest death toll, ranging from the death of 15000-20000 people. This
occurred when the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal leaked out one of the
most dangerous chemical gas named methyl isocyanate, leading to
immediate deaths in the city. This tragedy has seen the highest number
of deaths and injured people, where the victims were found to suffer
with respiratory problems, blindness and eye redness and irritation.
People were killed at large and ten thousands of them fled the city of
Bhopal immediately.
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